Six industries and the parts inside them — and an honest comparison against spin, vibration, hot plate and laser welding.
Ultrasonic welding turns up wherever two thermoplastic parts have to be joined quickly, cleanly and repeatably — which is most manufactured products. These are the six we are asked about most.
Interior trim, door cards, headliners, wheel-arch liners · head, tail and centre lamp assemblies · lenses and housings for cameras, radar and adaptive cruise sensors · fluid reservoirs and filter housings · airbag components · and on the electrical side, wiring-harness splices, terminals, EV battery tabs and busbars.
Process notes: Plastic welding, spin welding for round parts, metal welding for the harness and battery work.
Filters and drip chambers · IV and catheter components · blood and reagent cassettes · face masks · test kits and lateral-flow housings · sharps containers.
Process notes: Ultrasonic is preferred because there is no adhesive, no solvent, no cure time and no residue — and the weld can be validated cycle by cycle, which matters for a regulated product.
Tube sealing · blister and clamshell packs · caps and closures · spouts welded into pouches · beverage carton fitments · tamper-evident seals.
Process notes: Fast, clean, and hermetic where required. Continuous ultrasonic sealing runs at line speed.
Sensor and switch housings · connector bodies · staking PCBs into enclosures · ultrasonic insertion of threaded brass inserts · battery packs and tool housings.
Process notes: Higher frequencies (35/36 kHz) are usual — gentler on populated boards and delicate assemblies.
Cut and seal in one action on synthetic fabric · face masks · filter media · hygiene products · geotextile and roofing membrane · webbing and strapping.
Process notes: The cut edge is sealed as it is made, so it cannot fray. No needles, no thread, no consumable.
Filter cartridge end caps · bag filter collars · housings and bowls · float chambers · irrigation fittings.
Process notes: Round parts usually go to spin welding; flat and profiled joints to ultrasonics. This one sits next to our own filtration range.
There are five plastic joining processes in common industrial use. Recommending the wrong one wastes a year, so here is the honest comparison.
Fastest cycle, lowest running cost, any joint shape. Limited by part size and by soft semi-crystalline resins.
Circular joints only, but handles PP and PE well and seals large diameters reliably.
Large, irregular parts — manifolds, ducting, bumpers. Where the part is too big for ultrasonics.
Very strong hermetic joints in large parts and difficult resins. Slow cycle, and the platen needs maintenance.
Particle-free and no vibration — medical and electronics. Needs one transmissive and one absorbing part.
Still right for dissimilar materials and for joints that must be taken apart again.
Ultrasonic welding is decided by the parts — the resin, the wall, the joint and what the weld has to do. Send photos and drawings through the enquiry form and you get an engineered answer, not a price range.